GP says five week old formula fed baby is being overfed

[Mybaby2027]

I really need some advice as my Husband and I have left the GP feeling confused. Baby girl is 5 weeks old, taking between 100-120ml of Aptamil every 2 hours, so 4-4.5oz. If we are out in the car or pram she will go longer. Once each night she goes 3 hours usually between 3-5am kind of time, I am guessing she must get into a deep sleep around then.

I had to take her to see the doctor yesterday about something and they came to the conclusion that she is big for her age and is overfed. She got out her calculator and calculated the amount of formula she should be having for her weight, which is 5.255kg. She said 65ml every 2 hours, and that I am way over feeding her. I have checked with my friends and family who all say their babies were on over 4oz at 5 weeks old and weighed the same roughly. The GP told me I must reduce her milk down to 65ml every 2 hours, she said she will scream, cry and hate you for it but you have to do it.

I obviously didn’t listen and I reduced it down a little bit, so yesterday after we got home she was having 90ml. She was crying and crying with her hands in her mouth constantly licking and sucking them. Today I have given in and put it back up to 120ml. Some of the bottles she’s sucked dry completely, some she only takes about 100ml. I am instead going to slowly try to extend the 2 hours and see if we can get her to go a bit longer instead, but keep offering her 120ml. My Mum is saying the advice is ridiculous and to feed the baby when she shows hunger signs and to let her have whatever amount I feel she needs right now, which is between 100-120ml.

The GP said she is greedy and is only drinking it because it is there… this logic makes no sense because when I make her up a 90ml bottle she is not satisfied at all… she is not burping a lot which is an issue we have been focusing on. We have been getting into all sorts of positions to get her to burp and I have noticed a big improvement after trying some tips my family gave me. But still… she wants the higher amount of formula so the theory about her being in discomfort because of wind and trying to sooth herself with the milk can’t be true in her case either.

She was 8.2 pounds at birth, now she is 11.5 pounds or 5.255kg. I pointed out that I have been asking every health professional since the day she was born that we have come into contact with, how much to feed? None would give me an answer and just said every baby is different and to follow their cues, like hands in mouth etc. but suddenly this lady comes out with a calculated answer. I don’t know what calculation she is using and where it is from or if recommended. She didn’t tell me which website she was referencing this info from. I don’t know what to believe.

What did you go to see the gp for in the first place? That might explain the feeding advice.

having worked in paeds - parents hate being told they’re overfeeding their babies, but realistically many are.

the guide is 150ml/kg/24hrs and that’s the advice your gp has gone for. Many people misinterpret unsettled as hungry and feed again - leading to more unsettled. Then come to the gp with ‘unsettled’ baby.

Why are you waking her up if she is getting sleepy as she feeds?

Don't do this either. So called "hungry baby" formula is intended for babies nearer to 6 months, not 5 week olds. You should check with the HV or (another) GP if you want to do this. There's also no evidence that it actually helps babies, and it's just harder for them to digest which may bring its own issues.

If she's draining her bottles I'd offer a little more, but allow more time between feeds.

I think if she was really hungry earlier she wouldn't have settled down for a nap with a dummy. It may be that she was just unsettled. I would use this method to try and increase time between feeds to three hours. If she doesn't settle with a dummy, then feed her before three hours obviously.

You've had some great advise about paced feeding which i won't go over. I BFed my "greedy" baby who shot up from the 50th percentile to the 99th. He was rolls of fat by 8 weeks old. The HV told me they would have been concerned if he were FF but that over feeding a BF baby is impossible. Which seems pretty unfair to me.

Because you can't overfeed a breastfed baby.

You can with formula.

I wouldn’t say she is overweight

a rough guide to weight gain is an oz a day so 7oz a week - which is just under 1/2 a lb a week

your daughter has gained 3lbs in 5w so slightly higher but nothing bad imo

to feed every 2hrs instead of 3 as is on formula is rarer and possibly why doctor is concerned

a rough guide is 2.5/3oz per lb of body weight over the 24hrs so between 28.75/35.5 or 150ml per kg of body weight

at 35oz top end over 8 feeds (every 3hrs) would be just over 4oz or 120mls

tho you are feeding every 2hrs so yes slightly higher than average but not hugely way over

can you pace feed

has baby possibly got silent reflux so drinks more to soothe self

have you tried a dummy? You said you gave her one. Is this often ?

Is she a sucky baby so a dummy may content her to 3hrs

im a Maternity practitioner and have had babies like yours and over time they do even out tho a dummy has def helps them go to 3hrs daytime and most have had silent reflux

Have you tried the hungry baby formula. My sister's second child was like yours and that formula was a godsend according to my sister. Has your baby always fed every 2 hours? It's just that normally it's every 3-4 so maybe that's why the GP said she was being overfed. As pp said, speak to HV as GP aren't all knowing about babies. Mine had quite obvious cmpa and the GP told me to take him off the soya formula I'd given him and try a comfort milk🙄 all because I hadn't asked their permission to change his formula it seemed like. I didn't do what she said because I wasn't putting my baby back in pain with dairy milk

@Devilsmommy yes always 2 hours, that sounds awful 😞

Maybe try the hungry baby formula and see if that makes a difference. You know your baby better than the doctor so don't let her starve because the doctor is giving shit advice😊

Small babies should always be fed on demand. I remember when mine were little, they sometimes wanted a lot more for a while and then it would taper off.

In the first year of life they grow at such an incredible rate, especially in the fourth trimester. Limiting her calories and nutrients could have serious repercussions for her health and size.

She needs roughly 150 ml to 200 ml per kilo of weight each day. So for a FF baby of 5.4 kilos you’re looking at between 810 mls and 1080 mls. Does that should like what she’s having?

Agree with others that Pace Feeding sounds like a good idea.

Using the dummy also has its uses. You both need to learn how she can settle sometimes without having a bottle, if she’s hungry though she does need feeding

Whilst you can over feed a FF baby there is such a thing as “catching up” which is something that both BF and FF babies can do. This is where they are born on one febrile and usually drift up one or two and then stay there.

I’’ve not RTFT so apologies for that. Has anyone suggested going to the next baby weigh in clinic and talking to the HV about her feeding and centiles?

I have seen a few post though and they suggest trying hungry baby formula. I’ll go against the grain here and say that it has no more calories but does take longer to digest so is effectively putting your newborn on a calorie restricted diet. Please don’t use this formula without a proper considered conversation with your HV. You could however try a comfort type formula to see if CMPA could be causing her to seek regular feeds for comfort.

As others have said there is no clinical indication for hungry baby milk (purely made for marketing purposes) or water.

Honestly the main thing i wish i'd realised earlier is follow your instinct.

I got a load of shit for this too and was twisting myself in knots....
Initially I was berated for not feeding her enough then too much..
Post 3m my dd was tracking 90th + or weight and 90-90th for height until about 14m once walking she levelled out around 80-90 height and 75ish weight. Shes still there aged 4.5

Shes tall strong and athletic and perfectly healthy.

Re your DD
I wouldnt give it much headspace...
A couple of bouts of RSV could she your dd dropping centiles fast. A bit of fat is good imo.

I also dont put stock in the nhs Just look at the general guidance they give.... Its garbage
the nhs is a fossil. I had GD and was being told to eat and sandwich or baked potato and beans for lunch by the dietician.

By the time I had my son I just refused to engage with HVs / nhs anymore.
I was told suspicion my ds's had cmpa was in my head and I was "looking for problems because he was in NICU" ... a private specialist took one look and said he had classic cmpa symptoms.
After that I just said I was under private paediatric care and refused to engage with them.

Feed your baby.
I would keep it on a slower flow / age approproate teet though.

Babies should be fed roughly 2 hourly, always little and often, as feeding larger amounts spaced out at 4hrly or so can encourage them to go into deep sleeps. So little amounts more frequently is safer as this prevents SIDS.

Once you've worked out her centiles, you should know if she's overfeeding or not, if she's moved up a centile or two will show if she's having too much.

Personally, it sounds a lot for a 5 week old baby and that's a big gain, but without seeing her charts, weights, etc. I cannot comment whether she's being overfed or not! (ETA my babies were small, so maybe that's why it sounds a lot to me)

I would recommend the medela calma teats though, as they mimic breastfeeding and helps prevent guzzling as baby has to work for the milk.

I would echo a previous poster who suggested silent reflux. Sometimes silent reflux babies use milk to soothe their pain. Sucking hands can be a symptom too. There are some very helpful and supportive silent reflux groups on facebook. It’s worth checking for other symptoms.

Dont they just bring it up if they have taken too much?

Mine are both adults now but the advice I was given was to go by their cues, which it sounds like you’re doing. How can a 5 week old baby be greedy?! Honestly, I despair of some GP’s.

Ignore me of this is completely outdated advice, but when DS2 was a baby he never seemed satisfied from feeds so we switched him to ‘hungrier baby milk’ (on the advice of a HV). Not sure if that still exists?

I'd have been out of there the second the GP got the calculator out. What nonsense. Babies are mathematical equations, they're individual human beings.

Continue to feed on demand OP, I FF all of mine from birth and they all had 5oz at that age.

A mam 0 is a slow flow teat, you should be holding it horizontal though not tilted. I hope if you spent time on the NICU you were shown paced feeding? tilting teat so it is empty for pauses throughout feed.

I would look at centile lines in your red book and discuss with HV, they should have infant feeding specialist in team... but expect varies by area

I agree with another poster that it is easy to muster cues and over feed a baby but parents find this hard to accept so it's good you are condidering all the advice and annoying it's conflicted

Isn't it still the advice that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby because the milk tailors itself to the child, but you can overfeed a formula fed baby?

It is super easy to mistake all sorts of things for hunger, especially if the baby and mum are getting used to feeding being the main comfort.

Ignore your GP. Blimey. If you bottle feed at the right angle so it's not pouring in and they are in control then they should stop feeding when full.

If your baby is crying and screaming it's because they need feeding, changing or sleep.

Trust your instinct.

Both of my DC were only breastfed and a HV berated me for over feeding DC2🙄 Well her exact words were that I was using the boob to soothe him when he wasn’t actually hungry which would lead to over feeding. This was the same HV who insisted he had Colic (he didn’t) and also told me he had oral thrush (he didn’t - confirmed by a doctor). I was fortunate in that he was my second and I was more a confident mum so knew she was talking nonsense.

150mls/kg/24 hours is standard advice with regards to how much formula a baby should be given to ensure their nutritional needs are met, including how many calories they need.

So any baby who is taking over this volume will be receiving more calories than they ‘need’ which is why GPs worry about babies being over-fed because like a previous poster said, the obesity levels are on the rise. A lot of young bottle fed babies are over-fed because they are given bottles when they are upset (because they are assumed to be hungry) and a baby will naturally suck on the bottle and take the milk, even if they aren’t hungry because sucking is a reflex action.

Based on OP’s baby’s weight then in order to meet their nutritional and calorific requirements they only need 26oz per 24 hours.

I think speaking to the HV is a good idea because although babies should be fed on demand, it’s unusual for such a young baby to be finishing off 3-4oz every 2 hours. She may be able to have discussions with you about other reasons why your baby is upset, paced feeding, or why your baby is wanting so much milk…. as other posters have said, babies who have digestive issues will want more milk because sucking is a natural comforting motion for them, but then the extra milk they are having exacerbates the digestive discomfort so it becomes an un-breakable cycle. This is all something the HV can discuss with you though and her advice will be more appropriate and supportive than the GP’s approach hopefully.

I’m sorry your GP has upset you and please don’t let her question yourself or your parenting. Until you speak to your HV who will be far better equipped to support you, just continue following your baby’s cues and the natural instincts you feel as the mother.

I don’t know exactly how it works but there is a hormone in breast milk called Leptin that signals to the baby when they are full, which then tells the baby to stop feeding. It helps regulate the baby’s appetite.